Playing a Test after so long made me nervous: Bhuvneshwar

St. Lucia, Aug 13 (IANS) India’s seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has said that making a return to Test cricket after a long time against the West Indies here made him a bit nervous.

Bhuvneshwar’s last Test was in Australia in January last year, as he has been playing limited-overs cricket, but due to injury problems he has been in and out of the playing XI.

He claimed five wickets for 33 to bundle out the West Indies for 225 runs in the first innings of the third Test. At stumps on Day 4 on Friday, the visitors were leading by overall 285 runs with a day to play.

“There was no pressure as such but if you are playing after so long there are some nerves, whatever format you play. If I play in club cricket even then I have some nerves. But when I came to the ground and bowled the first ball everything felt normal,” Bhuvneshwar told reporters after the fourth day’s play on Friday.

“Maybe because I was thinking only about the process and focussing on that came from practice. I practice the way I am bowling in the match but it is not easy to sit outside for so long and then come back. It is not frustrating always, but it is not easy either,” he added.

India reached 157/3 in their second innings, with Ajinkya Rahane (51 not out) and Rohit Sharma (41 not out) remaining unbeaten.

The 26-year-old said that he did not think he would claim five wickets after his return to the longest format of the game.

“The biggest point was that the ball was swinging and when that happens it is a boost for me. I have a better chance to take wickets. After lunch, I could do that and when you get one wicket you get confidence that you can take more wickets.”

“When I was bowling it was the same in my mind that these are the 7-8 overs in which I can take wickets. I did not think I would take five wickets but that comes with the momentum,” he added.

“We had a talk within the team if we can get them out before tea we will have enough time to get them out twice. We discussed our plans and we knew what we had to do. So our mindset was such that we had to get them out quickly if we had to win the match,” the Meerut-born said.